Cool STEM News:

Physicists Just Crushed a New Record For Slowing Down Antimatter | Science Alert (01:33)

• What is Antimatter?
  • Simplest form: Has opposite properties of what we know as matter.
  • Electrical charge particles are the opposite:
    • Anti-electrons (called positrons) behave like electrons but have a positive charge.
    • Antiprotons are protons with a negative charge. 
  • Created during the big bang, but rare in today’s universe.
• Antimatter isn’t the easiest thing to study because it vanishes really quickly after it is created and if you are able to store it, it zooms around at ridiculous speeds.

• That is why the creation by researchers on the ALPHA experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research is important.

• This project was already able to slow down these antimatter particles from the speed of light, but now to measure the gravity’s effect on these particles they want to slow it down even more. 

• Just like ordinary atoms of hydrogen, antihydrogen atoms can absorb and scatter photons to lose or gain momentum. 

• Researchers tuned lasers “just right”, which resulted in the antimatter particles slowing down from roughly 180 mph to below 30 mph.

• Takamasa Momose who led the development of the laser stated the possibilities of this technology going forward: “[We] are one step closer to being able to manufacture the world’s first antimatter molecules by joining anti-atoms together using our laser manipulation technology.”

• Momose also provided some fundamental questions this technology could help provide answers to: “With this technique, we can address long-standing mysteries like: ‘How does antimatter respond to gravity? Can antimatter help us understand symmetries in physics?’ … These answers may fundamentally alter our understanding of our Universe.” 

Dumping Coffee Pulp To Forests Could Boost Recovery | Interesting Engineering (08:20)

• Something that we consistently dump out could be utilized to boost growth in nature…Coffee Pulp!

• Coffee Pulp is the by-product of coffee bean production, i.e. the coffee fruit without the seeds or beans. 
  • To get coffee beans, producers remove the fruit’s skin, pulp, and other filmy bits.

• A new study published in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence by researchers at ETH-Zurich and the University of Hawaiʻi can be utilized to promote agricultural recovery for tropical forests.

• 30 dump truck loads of coffee pulp were spread on an area of degraded land in Costa Rica. 

• Dr. Rebecca Cole, the lead author of the study, remarked on the findings: “The area treated with a thick layer of coffee pulp turned into a small forest in only two years while the control plot remained dominated by non-native pasture grasses.”

• In those 2 years, the coffee pulp area had 80 percent canopy cover compared to 20 percent in the control area.
  • 4 times taller

• Why did the coffee pulp layer promote growth?
  • Eliminated the invasive pasture grasses, allowing the natural tree species to reclaim that area.
  • Nutrients (carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus)  in the pulp area were more abundant.

• Dr. Cole explains why this is a beneficial discovery: “In situations where processing these by-products incurs a cost to agricultural industries, using them for restoration to meet global reforestation objectives can represent a ‘win-win’ scenario.”

A single injection reverses blindness in patient with rare genetic disorder | MedicalXPress (15:36)

• A Penn Medicine patient with a genetic form of childhood blindness gained vision after receiving a single injection of an experimental RNA therapy into the eye.
  • The vision lasted for full testing period.

• Clinical trial conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and their results were detailed in Nature Medicine.

• Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) is the genetic eye disorder that primarily affects the retina.
  • CEP290 protein is mutated
  • Severe visual impairment, typically beginning in infancy

• Received an eye injection of a substance called sepofarsen, which increases the normal CEP290 protein levels in the eye’s photoreceptors.

• This patient was the 11th to be injected with sepofarsen, but elected to just get the one injection instead of quarterly injections over a 15 month period due to increased risks of cataracts. 

• What happened after the injection?
  • Large improvements to visual function and retinal structure supporting a biological effect from the treatment
  • Took a month for vision to improve, and two months to reach peak performance.
  • Improvements lasted over 15 months after the first and only injection.

• For future studies, the Penn authors are planning gene-specific therapies for other currently incurable blinding inherited retinal disorders.

App Store now rejecting apps using third-party SDKs that collect user data without consent | 9to5mac (22:41)

• iOS 14 has brought several new privacy features, and there are more to come with App Tracking Transparency, broken down in a previous episode (Episode 42).
  • Letting users opt-out of being tracked by apps

• While tracking the user is not exactly illegal, Apple wants to put an end to apps that do this without explicit consent. 

• As noted by analyst Eric Seufert, Apple has started to reject apps using third-party SDKs that collect user data without consent.
  • SDK (software development kit)

• The SDK in violation noted by Seufert is Adjust SDK, which does not comply with Apple’s guidelines. 

• What is Adjust SDK violation?
  • Doesn’t have an option for users to opt-out of being tracked
  • Also has been suggesting alternatives for developers to continue tracking users once Apple enables App Tracking Transparency.

• Note, the App Tracking Transparency tool is part of iOS 14.5, which is expected to be released to all users this spring.

Swiss robots use UV light to zap viruses aboard passenger planes | Reuters (28:05)

• I’ve touched on UV lights killing viruses back in Episode 15 when I talked about a company developing a ceiling fan that utilized UV light to “disinfect” a room. 

• Seems like a Start-up is taking that concept to the airline industry.

• UVeya, a Swiss start-up, is conducting the trials of the UV light zapping robots with Dubai-based airport services company Dnata.

• Aircraft makers are trying to certify the devices and are studying the impact the UV light may have on interior upholstery, which could fade after many disinfections.

• The Device:

• • Crucifix-shaped frame.
  • Emits concentrated UV-C light, which has been used for 50 years to clean hospitals and laboratories. 
  • Can disinfect a single-aisled plane in 13 minutes.
  • Estimated that they’ll sell for 15,000 Swiss francs ($15,930).

• Tristan Chevignard, business development manager of Uveya, commented on this partnership: “We are thrilled to explore the aviation market for our UVC disinfection solution with such renowned partners. We believe this collaboration will help assure aircraft are clean, safe, and up to the high-level standards of this industry.”

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